Jonny Wilkinson has been dubbed a "pioneer" of rugby union's professional age as he prepares to break another world record at Murrayfield on Saturday.
England fly-half Wilkinson's first successful goal-kick against Scotland will make him the all-time top points scorer in Test history, overtaking Welshman Neil Jenkins' mark for Wales and the Lions of 1090.
There had been some debate about whether or not Wilkinson's 20 points for the Lions against Argentina in 2005 counted, but that has now been ratified by the International Rugby Board.
Wilkinson has equalled Jenkins' total in 20 fewer games, and his latest achievement should arrive just a fortnight after he set a new world-best - 29 - for international drop-goals.
Centre Toby Flood, Wilkinson's England and Newcastle colleague, believes the 28-year-old will deserve every accolade showered upon him.
Flood said: "All credit to Jonny for his endeavour and work-rate. Hats off to him - what a fantastic achievement it will be.
"To be the all-time highest points scorer in international rugby shows not only his ability to kick, but also the ability he has to be involved in the team.
"Over the past 10 years, he has been the best in his position.
"When I was 19 or 20, he was a guy I was desperate to tap into in terms of his knowledge.
"He's helped me with my goalkicking, the mental side of the game and understanding the game. He has been a huge help.
"Jonny has been paramount in what I have been able to achieve so far. The guy is a world-class player."
Flood sees Wilkinson as exceptional in many ways.
"He's just hugely driven. He puts in hours and hours of extra work, and he was the sort of pioneer of that approach," he said.
"He was the guy who said 'this is what I want to do; I want to be one of the best, and this is what it takes.'
"Take Tiger Woods - I don't think any other golfer had hit the gym until he came along. Jonny has set the level, and guys are desperate to get near him."
Points could make prizes for England and Wilkinson in this season's RBS 6 Nations Championship, but no one in the red rose camp that arrived at their central Edinburgh base last night - without the dropped Danny Cipriani - expects an easy ride against Scotland.
The Scots might have suffered defeats against France, Wales and Ireland - scoring a solitary try in the process - yet England have come unstuck too many times at Murrayfield to become complacent.
Even though England need to win - and win well - given they have a vastly-inferior points difference to title rivals and tournament favourites Wales, English rugby is littered with some significant failures in the Scottish capital, such as losing two Grand Slams (1990 and 2000) and suffering a 33-6 battering in 1986.
England also lost on their last Murrayfield visit in 2006, and captain Phil Vickery said: "There is no doubt we have the capability to win this weekend.
"But it's no good talking about it - we have to go out and perform, and we haven't performed consistently well enough at Murrayfield.
"If you don't perform, you go home as a losing team - full stop.
"We know we've got to be at the top of our game to get anything out of this game. People might talk about tries - but if it's 3-0 or 9-6, I don't care.
"I want to walk off after 80 minutes, having won the game. I hope we can have played some rugby along the way."
England could threaten their biggest victory at Murrayfield - a 29-3 success in 2002 - but whether it will be enough to keep them firmly in the title shake-up is debatable.
Whatever happens, though, Cipriani's absence - and the reasons behind it - will cast a huge shadow over their weekend.
Teams;
Scotland: H Southwell (Edinburgh); R Lamont (Sale Sharks), S Webster (Edinburgh), G Morrison (Glasgow), N Walker (Ospreys); C Paterson (Gloucester), M Blair (Edinburgh, capt); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton), N Hines (Perpignan), S MacLeod (Llanelli Scarlets), A Strokosch (Gloucester), A Hogg (Edinburgh), S Taylor (Stade Francais).
Replacements: F Thomson (Glasgow), A Dickinson (Gloucester), C Smith (Edinburgh), J White (Sale Sharks), K Brown (Glasgow), R Lawson (Gloucester), D Parks (Glasgow).
England: I Balshaw (Gloucester); P Sackey (Wasps), J Noon (Newcastle), T Flood (Newcastle), L Vainikolo (Gloucester); J Wilkinson (Newcastle), R Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), L Mears (Bath), P Vickery (Wasps, capt), S Shaw (Wasps), S Borthwick (Bath), T Croft (Leicester), M Lipman (Bath), N Easter (Harlequins).
Replacements: G Chuter (Leicester), M Stevens (Bath), B Kay (Leicester), L Narraway (Gloucester), P Hodgson (London Irish), M Tait (Newcastle), C Hodgson (Sale Sharks).
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